Josephine Bakhita - Icon Reproductions

St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of victims and survivors of human trafficking and slavery, offers hope to victims and survivors that as children of God, victims are already free. Born in 1869, St. Josephine Bakhita was captured as a child by slave traders who sold and re-sold her. Eventually purchased by an Italian diplomat and taken to Italy, she learned about God through the Canossian Daughters of Charity. She found the grace of God to forgive her captors, providing an invaluable model for survivors of all forms of human trafficking and slavery: to be truly free, one must forgive.